Is Proxmox a Hypervisor? Features & Benefits

If you’re looking at virtualisation for your home or business lab, you may have come across the question, “Is Proxmox a hypervisor?”

You might be comparing it to VMware, Hyper-V, or KVM. You might want to combine servers, cut down on hardware expenditures, or make a private cloud. But you need to be clear before you spend time and money.

We’ll go over in detail:

• What a hypervisor really is
• If Proxmox is one of them
• Important aspects of the Proxmox hypervisor
• Use cases in the real world
• Pros and cons
• A guide that shows you how to get started
• Questions that people often ask

By the conclusion, you’ll know for sure if Proxmox is the best virtualisation tool for you.

What Is a Hypervisor? (An Easy-to-Understand Explanation)

Before we answer the question “Is Proxmox a hypervisor?” Let’s talk about what a hypervisor is.

A hypervisor is a piece of software that lets you make and run more than one virtual machine (VM) on one physical server. Each virtual machine has its own operating system and apps that run on their own.

Different kinds of hypervisors

There are two primary kinds:

Type 1: Hypervisor Without Any Software

• Installs right on the hardware
• For example:

• VMware ESXi
• Hyper-V from Microsoft

Type 2 (Hypervisor that is hosted)

• Works with an already-installed operating system
• For example:

• Oracle VM VirtualBox
• VMware Workstation

Type 1 hypervisors are utilised more often in businesses and production settings since they are faster and safer.

Is Proxmox a type of hypervisor?

Short Answer: Yes, but with more power

Proxmox VE, or Proxmox Virtual Environment, is a Type 1 hypervisor platform. It is based on Debian Linux and uses:

• Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) for full virtualisation
• Linux Containers (LXC) are used for virtualisation based on containers.

In a technical sense, KVM is the underlying hypervisor, not Proxmox itself. Proxmox, on the other hand, is a full-featured hypervisor platform since it adds a full administration layer on top of KVM and LXC.

When people ask, “Is Proxmox a hypervisor?” the real answer is:

Yes. Proxmox is a Type 1 hypervisor platform that leverages KVM and LXC to control containers and virtual machines.

Is Proxmox free to use?

Another question that comes up a lot is, “Is Proxmox open source?”

Yes, the GNU AGPL license makes Proxmox VE completely open source. This means:

• No high licensing fees
• Complete openness
• A lot of help from the community
• Optional enterprise support plans are available.

This makes Proxmox a cheap alternative to proprietary virtualisation solutions for startups, small and medium-sized businesses, schools, and even big companies.

Main Features of Proxmox Hypervisor

Let’s look at the most crucial characteristics of the Proxmox hypervisor that make it so popular.

1. KVM lets you fully virtualise

You can run using KVM:

• Server for Windows
• Linux distros
• Systems that use BSD
• Custom operating system environments

Each VM acts like a different physical server.

2. Virtualisation Based on Containers (LXC)

You can do the following using LXC containers:

• Set up lightweight application environments
• Use less of the system’s resources
• Quickly start up services

This is great for microservices, development environments, and hosting websites.

3. A management interface that works over the web is built in.

Proxmox has a robust GUI that you may use in your browser to:

• Make VMs
• Set up storage
• Control networking
• Check on performance
• Take care of backups

You don’t need to know a lot about the command line to use it (but expert users can).

4. Clustering and High Availability (HA)

You are able to:

• Put together several Proxmox nodes into a cluster
• Allow automatic failover
• Make sure the business goes on

If one server goes down, VMs can automatically start up on another node.

5. Managing Backups and Snapshots

Proxmox can do:

• Backups on a schedule
• Backups that happen in steps
• Snapshots in real time
• Planning for disaster recovery

This is very important for production environments.

6. Storage that is defined by software

Proxmox works with:

• ZFS
• Ceph
• NFS
• iSCSI

This lets firms that are growing easily add more storage.

How People Use Proxmox in Real Life

Let’s look at some real-life examples.

Case Study 1: A small IT company is switching from VMware to another software

An IT support company with 15 employees was using VMware, but the cost of licenses were going up every year.

They turned to Proxmox and:

• Cut license costs to almost nothing
• Moved 12 VMs
• Made a high-availability cluster with three nodes
• Better automated backups

Result: Costs go down, performance stays the same.

Case Study 2: A hosting company that uses containers

A new web hosting company needed:

• Quick setup
• Separation between clients
• A lot of data per server

They did the following with Proxmox and LXC containers:

• Hosted more than 80 lightweight containers on one node
• Lowered costs of hardware
• Faster provisioning

Case Study 3: A Home Lab and Learning Space

For IT pros who want to study DevOps or cloud tech:

• Make Kubernetes clusters
• Firewalls that work
• Make fake business networks

Proxmox is a popular choice for home labs because it is free and strong.

How to Start Using Proxmox in Steps

Here’s a simple roadmap if you’re ready to give it a shot.

Step 1: Get the hardware ready

Minimum requirements:

• 64-bit CPU that supports virtualisation (Intel VT-x or AMD-V)
• 8GB of RAM (16GB or more is better)
• SSD storage is better

Step 2: Get Proxmox VE

Get the ISO from the Proxmox website.

Step 3: Set up on bare metal

• Start up from USB
• Follow the instructions in the installation wizard.
• Set up network settings
• Set a password for the root user

After you install it, you may get to the web GUI by:

Step 4: Make Your First Virtual Machine

• Press “Create VM”
• Upload ISO
• Set aside CPU, RAM, and storage
• Begin the VM

You now have a virtual machine that works.

Step 5: Set up backups and storage

• Include ZFS or an external drive
• Set up backups on a schedule
• Check to see if the restore feature works

Don’t forget to set up backups.

Why You Should Use Proxmox Hypervisor

This is why Proxmox is important.

1. Saving money

There are no required license payments, unlike commercial hypervisors.

2. Features for Businesses

You get:

• Grouping
• High availability
• Moving while live
• Access control based on roles

Without having to pay business-level prices.

3. Being flexible

You can do:

• Complete VMs
• Lightweight boxes
• Mixed environments

One interface for everything.

4. Transparency in open source

Because it’s open source:

• No lock-in with a vendor
• Development driven by the community
• Updates often

5. Ability to grow

Begin with:

• One node

Scale to:

• A lot of clustered servers

Great for firms that are growing.

Things to think about that could be problems

There is no ideal answer.

• How hard it is to learn for beginners
• The support ecosystem for small businesses is smaller than VMware’s.
• Some complicated business integrations need to be changed to work.

But for most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and hosting companies, these are tolerable trade-offs.

Proxmox vs Other Hypervisors (Quick Comparison)

For budget-conscious organizations, Proxmox is often the clear winner.

Questions and Answers About Proxmox Hypervisor

1. Is Proxmox a hypervisor or an OS?

Proxmox VE is a Type 1 hypervisor platform that runs on Debian Linux and uses KVM and LXC to make and control virtual machines and containers.

2. Is Proxmox free to use?

Yes, the GNU AGPL license lets anyone see and use Proxmox VE for free. There is also premium enterprise support available.

3. Is it possible for Proxmox to operate Windows virtual machines?

Yes. Proxmox can run Windows Server and Windows desktop operating systems quickly and easily with KVM.

4. Is Proxmox good for use in production environments?

Yes, of course. It has clustering, high availability, backups, and enterprise support features, so it can be used in production by small and medium-sized businesses and even bigger ones.

5. Is Proxmox better than VMware?

It depends on what you require. People generally use Proxmox since it is cheaper and more flexible. VMware may be better for enterprise ecosystems that are very well integrated.

Final Thoughts: Is Proxmox Right for You?

So, is Proxmox a hypervisor?

Yes, and a lot more.

It’s a strong, open-source virtualisation platform that includes:

• KVM hypervisor
• LXC boxes
• Clustering for businesses
• Backup options
• Storage defined by software

Proxmox is a great choice for startups, small and medium-sized businesses, hosting companies, developers, and IT experts because it strikes a great balance between cost, control, and capacity.

If you want to lower the cost of virtualisation while keeping enterprise-level performance, you should definitely give Proxmox a try.

Are You Ready to Explore Proxmox?

First, set up a tiny test server or home lab. Try out VMs, containers, and clustering.

If you want expert help with a production deployment, you might want to talk to a virtualisation expert or look into corporate support solutions.

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